James B. Steedman

James Blair Steedman (29 July 1817-18 October 1883) was a Democratic state representative and senator from Ohio and a distinguished Union Army Major-General during the American Civil War.

Biography
James Blair Steedman was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1817, and he worked as a typesetter for the Lewisburg Democrat newspaper before moving to Louisville, Kentucky to work in a similar job. In 1835, he joined the Texian Army of Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution, and he then returned home to Pennsylvania and worked as the supervisor of a public works project. He moved to Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio in 1835 and founded the Northwest Democrat newspaper in 1838; he also prospered as a contractor. Starting in 1847, he served two terms in the Ohio General Assembly, and he went to California in 1849 to prospect for gold. He served on the Ohio Board of Public Works from 1852 to 1857 and worked as a lawyer in Toledo, and he supported Stephen Douglas at the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Baltimore and launched a failed bid for the US House of Representatives. At the start of the American Civil War in 1861, he raised an Ohio regiment and first saw action at the Battle of Philippi in June 1861. He went on to serve in the Western Theater as a brigade commander of the Army of the Ohio from 17 July 1862, and he received high commendation for his role in turning the tide at the Battle of Perryville. He was wounded while heroically protecting the Union army as it retreated from the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863, and he became a Major-General on 20 April 1864 after taking part in the Chattanooga Campaign. Steedman participated in the Atlanta Campaign before leading a provisional division at the Battle of Nashville on 15-16 December 1864, driving Stephen D. Lee's corps from the field. He commanded the Department of Georgia after the war's end, and he resigned on 18 August 1866. He served as collector of internal revenue at New Orleans until 1869 and in the State Senate in 1870, and he died in 1883.